Birthday Round-up

This is a big week for birthdays. Birthdays of people I like. Today is Barbra Streisand and Shirley MacLaine's birthday. I don't know that I'd say I like Barbra, but she's alright.

I went through a Shirley Maclaine stage not long ago. She's pretty great. I had avoided watching Terms of Endearment for a long time mostly because I heard how incredibly depressing it was. But when you're in a Shirley MacLaine stage, you can't just ignore it. So I rented it and yes, it is depressing, but its amazingness more than makes up for the pain it causes. My other favorite Shirley MacLaine movie is a rather obscure one called Used People. It's actually the movie that started my whole Shirley MacLaine stage. Much to my dismay, it does not yet exist on DVD. To celebrate Shirley's birthday, TCM is showing a couple of her movies this afternoon, followed by her Private Screenings interview. Should be good!

The other birthday this week is Carol Burnett, on the 26th. I love Carol Burnett. She's absolutely one of my favorites since I was a kid. I watched the Carol Burnett Show all the time, and I wanted to be a comedian because of her. I also enjoyed her in Annie as Miss Hannigan. Nobody's ever said, "she hadda go bathroom" quite like her. I've spent many years trying to copy it, to no avail. I was delighted to see her the other night on the TVLand awards, honoring Lucille Ball, my other favorite! Lucy's kids were there to accept the award, it was all very cute.

So there you have it, the birthday round-up for the week of April 23, 2007.